


In Which Howl Attracts Customers and Sophie Plays a Practical Joke

by bobblemonkey2



Category: Howl Series - Diana Wynne Jones, Howl no Ugoku Shiro | Howl's Moving Castle, Howl's Moving Castle - All Media Types
Genre: Cute, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Humor, howl and sophie squabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:13:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25864924
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bobblemonkey2/pseuds/bobblemonkey2
Summary: Howl is still glum about Mrs Pentsemmon’s death and the Witch of the Waste’s curse, but he still finds time to flirt with all the women of Market Chipping, much to Sophie’s annoyance.
Relationships: Sophie Hatter/Howl Pendragon
Comments: 4
Kudos: 115





	In Which Howl Attracts Customers and Sophie Plays a Practical Joke

**Author's Note:**

> An additional chapter to HMC, set just after Howl acquires the flower shop. All characters belong to DWJ.

Howl had been quite glum ever since the Witch of the Waste’s curse began catching up with him. He spent most of his time out, and the little time he had left after that was spent in the bathroom taking his mind off things by trying out new beautifying potions. There was little joy in his life at all. But on those days where he was feeling especially perky, he made sure to visit the flower shop to test the effects of his potions on the customers, and to watch Sophie subsequently squirm. Today was one such day.

‘Would you stop fussing about with those rhododendrons, Howl! You’ll crush them at this rate!’ Sophie yelled from the shop counter as she opened the till for another day’s work. She knew exactly what he was doing, and all the fiddling in the world wouldn’t be able to hide it - the rhododendrons sat directly in front of the shop window, and Howl was sure to pose as heroically as possible for the ladies that walked past. ‘If you wanted someone to swoon over you why not just go look in a mirror!’

‘You’re forgetting my dear,’ Howl spun round, giving the onlookers a good view of his rear end, ‘that the mirror doesn’t provide me with any income, as attractive of a prospect as that may seem.’ He was certainly proud of himself today - he had spent ages in the bathroom perfecting the hair shining serum which he had added to his black dye to give his hair a mysterious glow. His eyes looked greener than usual thanks to a mix of some particular herbs and spices that Sophie had found quite odious to smell the night before; and as usual, he donned the black suit he had worn to Mrs Pentsemmon’s funeral, which Sophie was sure had been charmed.

‘At least stop showing yourself off - half of the women you bring in don’t even want flowers, they just take up space.’ Sophie huffed. The dog-man was scuttling around her feet getting quite in the way at this point. ‘Make yourself useful and open the door.’

Howl happily obliged, treating the flower shop as his own personal catwalk as he strutted from the one end to the other. When he got to the door he stopped a little short and looked down at his chest, realising there were far too many buttons done up for his liking - he unbuttoned two, freeing a little of his chest which prompted several excited squeals from the row of girls lining up outside. Sophie rolled her eyes.

‘Morning ladies,’ he said in a sultry tone that was very unlike his normal voice, as he opened the shop.

‘Morning Mr Jenkins!’ A few of the girls giggled as they entered, the rest of them going pink with embarrassment.

‘I can’t bear to watch this!’ Sophie muttered to the dog-man. ‘Half of these girls don’t look like they have a purse on them!’

Howl sauntered up to the succulent section, where he leaned against the wall in a pose that highlighted his arms, though it did look a little uncomfortable.

‘Mr Jenkins, what’s this plant?’ One voice cooed out in an overly high pitched tone.

‘That’s an Echeveria. Quite beautiful - perfect for you.’ He replied, to which she let out a girlish giggle and picked up the plant. 

‘That’s an Aloe Vera, not an Echeveria!’ Sophie mumbled to the dog-man as the girl came up to pay.

‘Mr Jenkins!’ Another young lady chirped. ‘Which colour do you think goes better with my eyes?’ She placed two flowers, one blue and one red behind each ear and did her best to pout.

‘Oh my!’ Howl feigned shock. ‘It’s impossible for me to choose as you look so exquisite with both shades.’ He gave his best doe eyes - what a deceiving cad, Sophie thought as she bagged up the previous purchase.

‘Both it is!’ The lady gave a lustful sigh as she whisked off to the counter with a bunch of each. In truth, the red clashed with her hair colour and the blue washed her out, but Sophie’s method of selling would only have driven her away without a sale.

A few more hours of girlish giggling and longing looks passed, so that by the afternoon the flower shop had almost doubled its profits from the whole of last week.

‘You really are a wicked wizard,’ Sophie said during a lull.

‘I can’t help it if women find me attractive,’ he lied.

‘Says the man walking around in a charmed suit!’

‘I told you, I don’t remember what suit I’m wearing.’ 

‘Ugh!’ Sophie huffed in anger and stomped to the front of the store, followed by the dog-man who was trotting behind her in angry solidarity. She wondered if she’d overreacted, especially considering how well the shop had done in sales that day, but Howl still needed to learn his lesson. ‘Right flowers,’ she whispered, leaning over the front display, ‘you are to make Howl look a fool next time he tries to flirt a customer into buying you.’ She paced around for a few moments before returning to the till for a sit down.

‘Have you huffed and puffed yourself out of energy now? My goodness woman, do you expect me to do all the work around here?’ Howl moaned before swiftly sashaying back around the shop.

‘Mr Jenkins, would you mind terribly giving me a hand?’ A woman dressed in finery sounded from the front.

‘Alas, someone who treats me with the respect I deserve!’ He called over to Sophie before attending to the lady.

‘I wondered what flowers looked most romantic to you? See I have my eye on a man and I want to display some flowers around my home for when I...’ she paused giving a sultry glance to the wizard, ‘bring him for a visit.’

‘Well, I don’t think you need flowers to entice a man, but since you’re asking nicely how about th-‘ as he picked up the bunch of gold roses that Sophie had perfected the day before, a spurt of water suddenly struck him directly in the face - then another, then another, and so on. With every protest, more water came shooting out of the flower head until eventually the sultry woman had fled and Howl was left soaked through. Where there once had been girlish giggles there was now an uproarious wave of laughter sweeping through the shop, with all eyes on Howl, but not in their usual admiring sense.

‘Sophie!’ He shouted, creating puddles as he stomped to the counter. ‘Is this your idea of a punishment? Making me lose custom and my reputation?’

‘Oh calm down, Howl, can’t you take a joke?’ Sophie said feeling proud of herself.

But from the way he treaded angry puddles all the way out of the shop, then oozed green slime all over the living room floor, before wailing up a storm in his bedroom, it would seem not.


End file.
